Wiki
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Release Date
1 January 2003
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Length
13 tracks
The album was originally mixed by Grammy Award-winning soul engineer Russell Elevado, but Capitol Records, the band's label at the time, were unhappy with releasing it, and it was shelved, contrary to the band's wishes. The released version is instead a more polished, synthpop-influenced mix by Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran. The Elevado mix was released as The Dandy Warhols Are Sound in 2009.
The album is partly named after Kurt Vonnegut's short story of the same name.
The album cover painting is by Ron English and is a prime example of that artist's signature mash-up style – the visual pun of a banana half-exposed by a zipper down its peel cannily melds two of the most famous classic rock album cover designs by one of English's acknowledged major influences, Andy Warhol: The Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers and The Velvet Underground's The Velvet Underground & Nico.
he album was generally well-received critically. XRay Magazine described the album as a "belligerent, snotty-nosed, speed-fueled romp through sinister electro punk, slightly corrupt melodic rock and skew-whiff handle of 80s glam-sodden pop, albeit refracted through a knowing noughties thrift store cool". Allmusic wrote, "With their fifth album, Welcome to the Monkey House, the band capitalizes on their pop sensibilities and even manages to turn their prior weaknesses into strengths, resulting in a collection of gloriously blank, cleverly stupid neo-new wave songs." Robert Christgau gave the album an A– rating, calling it "clever and droll but also hypnotic and mysterious".
On the other hand, Pitchfork, critical of the band, gave the album a low 3.3/10 rating, writing "these songs highlight the poseur mentality and insincerity that paradoxically plagues and blesses The Dandy Warhols". Sunday Herald wrote, "Sometimes over-indulgence can be fun, but Welcome to the Monkey House is simply too much.
Personnel:
The Dandy Warhols
Courtney Taylor-Taylor – vocals and guitar
Zia McCabe – keyboards, and backing vocals on track 11
Peter Holmstrom – guitar
Brent DeBoer – drums, backing vocals
Additional personnel
Sally Boyden – backing vocals on track 2
Sam Dodds – backing vocals on track 2
Adam Flick – bass guitar on tracks 3 and 11
Jamie Jackson – electric piano on track 11
Simon Le Bon – backing vocals on track 3
Yoad Nevo – additional guitar on tracks 2, 3, 10 and 11
Parker Posey – mandolin on track 11
Nick Rhodes – additional synthesizer on tracks 2, 3 and 5–11
Nile Rodgers – rhythm guitar on track 5
Cloudia Tinley – "giggles" on track 2
Mark Tinley – additional guitar on track 6
Tony Visconti – bass guitar on tracks 4 and 12 and backing vocals on track 12
Production
Steven Birch – sleeve design
Brian Coates – engineering on tracks 1–4 and 6–13
Brian Gardner – mastering
Ron English – album cover painting
Nick Friend – recording assisting
Yoad Nevo – additional programming on tracks 2, 3 and 5–11
Daniel Porter – mixing assisting
Nick Rhodes – production on tracks 2, 3 and 5–11
Courtney Taylor-Taylor – production
Bjorn Thorsrud – engineering on tracks 2–7, 9, 10, 12 and 13 and additional production on track 2
Mark Tinley – engineering and programming on tracks 2, 3 and 5–11
Tony Visconti – production on track 12
Jeremy Wheatley – mixing, additional production on tracks 2 and 9 and additional programming on tracks 2, 3 and 5–11
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